A lot of basketball

So, I won. My Yahoo Fantasy NBA league. This inspite of having a team which only boasted one All-Star: Dirk Nowitzki.

However, I made this up through frequent changes in my team. Inspired moves included - getting Boris Diaw before he became hot, dropping Ron Artest early but getting him back much before he started playing a stellar role on defence in Sacramento and spotting the late run of Chris Wilcox and Kwame Brown and riding with them. Also, Stephon Marbury and Alonzo Mourning contributed decently for my team and definitely deserved a higher ranking than what Yahoo Sports gave them. Plus, I got solid performances from Lamar Odom and Marcus Camby.

Stupid moves included dropping Bobby Simmons too early and not dropping Jason Williams and Udonis Haslem early enough. Also, I had a horrible team name.

All's well that ends well, though. I get a 1st place trophy to my name. It also is great fun to win against American and Chinese opponents. Some newspaper yesterday asked whether Indians have a moral right to follow World Cup football, since our team is ranked 117th in the world. This victory of mine, howsoever small and meaningless, is a tiny slap on such aspersions.

More such games, are at WhatIfSports.com. Interesting concept as it allows you to create your dream teams from players of all time and take part in simulated competitions. Sadly, it's restricted to American sports, but soon, I am sure, we'll see an Indian knock-off for cricket as well. Do check this out, in case you are wondering if the 1986-87 Lakers could have beaten the 1995-96 Bulls.